Albert Lions

Name: Albert "Al" Lions

Gender: Male

Age: Eighteen

Grade: 12th

School: Bayview Secondary School

Hobbies and Interests: Handheld gaming, Conversations with strangers, Rave music

Appearanace: Standing at 5'6", and weighing 137 lbs, Albert is a short, small young man who would be easily lost in a crowd, were it not for his mannerisms. His wavy blonde hair lies in a mess on top of his head, on the rare occasions he holds still long enough for it to settle down. There are streaks of metallic blue mixed in with the gold, which don't quite reach to his scalp. His green eyes, wide with excitement and curiosity, shine brightly. His nose is short, and thin, and ends in a small, rounded point, above a mouth that is almost always open in speech. Almost always stuck in his right ear is a single earphone bud; The left hangs by its cord over the front collar of his t-shirt, swinging as he moves, and sharing its thumping techno beats and high-energy electronic grooves with anyone who can hear it.

The shirt itself is tie-dye, and baggy, to allow a freedom of movement, often enough so that it reveals some of his slender frame beneath. His skin is fair, tanned on his arms and shoulders where it's most often exposed to the sun, though no part of his upper body is ever completely deprived of Vitamin D. The movements of his shirt occasionally give a glimpse of a tattoo, a peace symbol, inked into his left pec. His pants, plain cargo shorts, are secured at the waist by one of several belts he owns. Inside the left pocket will be his wallet (usually empty, save for ID) and his cellphone (dented and scratched from being dropped many times), in his right a Nintendo DS, sharing a similar appearance to the phone, and missing its stylus. Al's legs move freely beneath the fabric, allowing him to continue whatever impromptu dance he's caught up in at the moment.

His feet are clad in sandals, toes open to the air.

Biography: It's an old and tired cliche, the happy-go-lucky guy who is hiding a tragic past behind too-wide smiles and non-stop change, a cliche Al delights to say he defies. His parents were a classic (if gender-flipped) Cinderella story, his wealthy businesswoman mother meeting his grocery store cashier father after the former left her purse in the store. The two became inseparable, and wed soon after.

Al was born the middle child of 3, between his elder brother Camron and his kid sister Jessie. Their parents had disagreements, like all couples do, but their marriage held strong, through all the speedbumps.

Albert showed his energy and unique personality even from an early age, and it cultivated and grew as he got older. He quickly found his niche, and became the comic of the family, keeping everyone in good spirits no matter the situation. School was not particularly easy for Al, whose excitable personality kept him from holding still for long enough for the system to function properly. But, the boy insisted he stay in public schooling, rather than switch to home school, considering a C average a fair price to pay in order to keep in touch with his friends.

High school brought a still-greater sense of fitting in for the young man, where he found a place among the ravers, who introduced him to several genres of music that were undoubtedly "him", though he generally avoided drug usage, preferring his own natural high to the artificial ones the others partook in. At the same time as this "party" expansion, Al also got involved with one of the less-popular clubs, who got him hooked on a rather unexpected hobby, handheld gaming. He filled a one-of-a-kind role, and no one who knew him forgot him.

An interesting habit of Al's began to emerge in the beginning of his freshman year. Most people react to strangers as just that, strange. They may be cordial, or even kind, but few and far between are the people who will take a genuine interest in the lives of people they do not know. Albert Lions is one of the few. Old or young, male or female, black or white, he will talk to anyone who sparks his interest. This can be rather off-putting to some, much like his attitude in general, but the behavior has also made him several good friends.

On the more internal side, Al is very much a people person, and is not comfortable with being alone. Many of his actions, and his forwardness with others seem to be motivated by this need for company and attention, good or bad. The young man does not go to church, which irritates his mother to some degree, but this is motivated less by any opinions on religion, and more that it's simply not in Al's nature to sit still and quiet for an hour and a half. He's much more the type to wander around town looking for friends or interesting strangers to socialize with.

As the end of Al's senior year approaches, and college beyond it, Al is looking into a career as a public speaker, where is energy, and talent for talking in front of people will carry him far, though that's not to say he won't have fun along the way.

Advantages: Al is a very high-energy individual with a great stamina, who is almost constantly moving. His bouncy, upbeat personality tends to rub off on the people around him, especially if they're already the jovial type, and his unflappability keeps him from becoming disappointed by the ones who are not.

Disadvantages: Al's excessive energy and strange mannerisms can be a little off-putting to people meeting him for the first time, and it is particularly difficult for the young man to sit still and be quiet, or to treat serious matters with the proper respect. His dependence on others to define himself bodes poorly for him.

Designated Number: Male student no. 151

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Designated Weapon: TOZ-194 (x14 shells provided)

Conclusion: Another one to watch. I don't think he'll last that long, but he at least has the potential to take a few people with him. That inability to stay serious can also make for some darn good viewing. Let's hope he knows how to stage a show.

'The above biography is as written by JoystickHero. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Joystick Hero, Stark

Kills: None

Killed By: Kris Hartmann

Collected Weapons: TOZ-194 (Given to Augustus MacDougal, subsequently lost), punctured inflatable raft (from Everett Taylor)

Allies: Augustus MacDougal

Enemies: None

Mid-game Evaluation: Albert was first woken up on the mountain by the sound of Remi Pierce's collar exploding. Upon awakening, he initially thought that he was on the camping trip and the orientation was all just a bad dream, and that he'd been dragged out into the open of the campsite as a prank by the other students. He noticed Augustus MacDougal lying nearby and went over to wake him up, picking up an inflatable raft (which was Everett Taylor's discarded weapon) nearby. He spotted Augustus' collar and that he was crying, starting to realise that the 'nightmare' was indeed real and so attempted to cheer Dougal up with a joke. It backfired however when he received a punch to the face from his friend. Dougal immediately apologised for the knee-jerk reaction and the pair agreed to stick together. Noticing Dougal's skis, Albert went to his bag to find his weapon, which much to his pleasant surprise was a shotgun. He gave the weapon, ammo and instruction manual to Dougal and let him lead the way. However, Albert had become distracted by the local wildlife and got separated from him straight away.

When he finally caught up to Dougal, it was far too late - he stumbled upon both Dougal and Harold Fisher's bodies, which caused Albert much grief. It didn't help when he saw Dougal speaking to him, seemingly fine, despite the fact he was holding his body. This confusion was amplified when the recently arrived Isaiah Garvey was unable to see the seemingly fine Dougal in front of him, so Albert decided to distract himself by asking Isaiah for help with burying the bodies. The scene drew several people to them, including Andrew Mitchell, Kevin Warick and Adrian Staib, but before they could properly bury the bodies, Albert was distracted once again by his hunger pangs and went off in search of food.

Albert stumbled upon Kris Hartmann, who had slowly been losing her mind over the previous days. When he came closer offering to help her, she fatally shoots him in the chest.

Post-Game Evaluation: Oh wow, it seems everyone and their mothers was loosing their mind around here. Why couldn't he have turned his insanity into something constructive? I mean, he had a shotgun...

Memorable Quotes:
 * "I... um... Oh! Did you hear the one about the.. uh... dog who tried to get a job...? Let's see... there's a dog, and he works for an office. No, wait, he WANTS to work for an office, and he's bilingual. He speaks Cat! Wait, that's the punchline..." -Albert cannot tell a joke.

Other/Trivia

 * Albert was adopted by Stark after his original handler went inactive.
 * Albert was heroed by Stark to save Aston Bennett, who had herself been swapped by Inky for Clio Gabriella, during the second announcement (fourth overall) rolls.
 * It is unknown whether or not the apparition of Augustus MacDougal that appeared to Albert was a genuine ghost or simply a figment of his imagination. Neither theory was very clearly defined.

Threads
Below is a list of threads that contain Albert, in chronological order.

Pre-Game:
 * Making Memories

V4:
 * Dude, how come I feel like I'm not in Kansas anymore? (Stark took over at the end of the thread)
 * Milk of Human Kindness
 * Where There Is Fire, We Will Carry Gasoline

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Albert Lions. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''


 * Why is everyone better at playing my characters than I am? - JoystickHero


 * Lies. Lies and slander. - Stark


 * I am an advocate of both being equally good. Pre-Stark Al had just as much to bring to the table as Post-Joystick Al, and I really love how unique a character he was. - Inky
 * I liked Albert. He definitely had a good run with both handlers. The hallucinations were a bit unusual, in the sort of oldschool way (think V1 Dodd), but for that were handled pretty well. Not a thing I'd necessarily want to see another character ever do, but it was a fun break from the rest of V4. I also thought it was cool to see him have an almost touching moment with his killer. Again, it wouldn't work all the time, but here it did and stood out very nicely. - MurderWeasel